One Step
by VDStar
Summary: **Spoilers for the season 6 finale, avoid if you don't wish to be spoiled!**. Continuing from where the events in "Final Embrace" ended, what is the fallout from the tragedy that has rocked Jax's world. Who is Jax without his guiding light? Will the guilty party or parties be found and brought to justice? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel for Jax and his family?
1. Prologue

**Spoilers for the season 6 finale, do not read if you do not wish to be spoiled. All the characters belong to Kurt Sutter, I'm just borrowing them for this story.**

* * *

**One Step**

One step at a time, one foot in front of the other. Jax thought to himself as he tried to keep his emotions in check as he accepted the packet of papers that Margaret handed him, his mind kept going over what he had just seen and heard just moments before.

"_Jax." Tara said with a misty smile. "I'm sorry baby. I'm so sorry that Margaret had to give this to you to watch. I hoped it would never come to this, that we would finally manage to find our way out of this endless cycle."_

_Jax shifted closer, as if he could climb inside the monitor and be there with Tara. He drank in everything about his wife, her hair, her eyes, the color of her skin. He noted her clothes, the sling she wore for her hand, trying to figure out when this was taken, but deciding it didn't matter. It only mattered that he still had a piece of her to hold on to._

"_I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the letters earlier baby, I wanted to spare you that pain if I could, but after everything that's happened," she continued, gesturing to sling, "I have to make sure that you know the truth."_

_She took a breath._

"_Your mother if she hasn't already will give you these letters, she'll tell you that Clay killed your father. And she won't be lying. She'll tell you that Clay found out I had these letters, that I was looking into your father's death, she'll tell you that this damage is on him."_

_Tara leaned forward in the chair, her eyes serious._

"_But she's not going to give you all the letters. I know your mother Jax. She loves you, and she loves the club. She'll stop at nothing to protect what she loves. That love baby, it's poison, she knew what Clay was going to do to your father, she gave her approval for him to be killed."_

_Jax sat back in his chair, running his hand over his mouth in shock._

"_Gemma knew I had the letters, she searched my office for them, asked me to tell her where I hid them and I did. But I made another copy, and gave them to Margaret to hold on to in case something happened. You can trust her Jax, she's been a good friend who only has my best interests at heart."_

_Tara sat back in her chair. _

"_Read the letters Jax, all of them and finally know the truth. And whatever you think you have to do, then do it, but don't ever forget what you promised. No matter what happens, make sure you get our boys out of this poisonous town." She said, a tremble in her voice. "Because if you're watching this, then I can't do it. So I need you to be the strong one, I need you to do the right thing for our family."_

_Tara clasped her hand to her face as a sob broke out._

"_I love you so much Jax. Even after everything I'm not sorry I came back because it gave me two beautiful sons. I hate that I won't see them grow up, that I won't be able to watch them become good men. Promise me you'll guide them on that path, promise me you'll tell them how much I love them."_

"_I love you baby. I'm sorry we didn't get our fairytale." She said pressing a kiss to her hand and reaching out to press it against the camera, before the screen went black._

_Jax jumped up from the chair, reaching out and shoving the monitor off the desk, his body wracked with pain and anger coursing through him. He slid down the side of the desk, a sick feeling moving through him, his face in his hands as his body was wracked with sobs._

"What are you going to do?" Margaret's words finally cut through the haze Jax found himself surrounded by.

"What Tara wants me to do." He answered forcefully, his beautiful wife's words still echoing around him.

* * *

**Author's Note:** So this is more a teaser than an actual chapter, I'm trying to get that up either today or tomorrow, but I wanted to introduce the story so much that I just went ahead with this. Firstly, as many of you suggested, this is a sequel to "Final Embrace". I think you guys were spot on with going with a sequel versus continuing within the other story, it allows "Final Embrace" to keep the tone that it was meant to have while allowing this story to branch out further into almost how I would want to see season 7 presented. So thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the prequel to this story, I hope you continue with me on this ride and to any newbies that have stumbled into the story, welcome!

I also want to take a moment to vent/set the tone of the story. Firstly, the real Tara, to me at least is the woman who out-smarted Gemma at her own game and handed Jax the tools he needed to kill Clay back in season 4. That smart, strong woman is the real Tara. And as much as Sutter wants to say she was desperate in season 6 and dependent on weak players and that's why her plan fell apart hours after coming to be, that's not the real Tara to me. I look at the plan that we saw play out on the screen as plan A. The big over the top, Gemma type plan, something Tara would try to use to get Jax's attention, see if it worked, all the while having a back-up plan (or her real plan) in place just waiting for when it needs to be used. So with that in mind, I'm thinking Tara filmed this video to Jax right around the time she gave him the syringe for Clay. At that time she had proof that her life was in danger from the club, I think from that point on she started working on her own way out for her and the boys, even as she helped Jax by volunteering in the prison to have him get out with her, I don't think she ever truly believed he was going to go with them.


	2. Chapter 1

"Good." Margaret said quietly after Jax's declaration. "She put aside a lot of items for you." She said in a louder tone so Jax could hear her as she pulled a key out of her desk and handed it to him. "She got a safety deposit box, the other key is at the house, but she left letters, for you and the boys."

"When?" Jax asked as he accepted the key, shocked at all the forethought Tara had put into this.

"After her hand." Margaret said softly. "She was afraid for her life, and for the lives of her sons." She continued in a soothing tone. "She would spend the time in the hospital not just completing rehab sessions or meeting with lawyers, but working on this, having things in place, just in case." Margaret continued, her voice breaking at the end as the realization that the 'just in case' that Tara had been planning for was now a reality.

Jax nodded, his eyes tearing at the thought that Tara had spent weeks not having faith that he would make the right move, do the right thing for their family. He was ashamed as he admitted to himself that she had every right to be afraid, that he hadn't been doing what he promised, that he hadn't given her any reason to hope that things would get better in weeks. His mind went over all their conversations in recent weeks, Tara's avoidance of telling him she loved him, how she pulled away, how she thought he had turned into a monster. Jax felt bile rise in the back of his throat as he remembered how he responded to Tara's distance, to her unwillingness to let him see her in jail, to let him in.

His nausea grew as did his disgust with himself as he thought of how he was with another woman in the weeks before his wife's death, not only did he betray her, but how he did the one thing that she said was a deal breaker and that he wouldn't just hurt her, but their whole family. He tried to push the nausea back as a buzzing filled his ears, he felt shame over the weeks and months he wasted being a stubborn ass, how he betrayed the one person who sacrificed everything for him and their family. As all these thoughts and feelings washed over him, Jax was in awe that even after everything that happened, even when she caught him with his goddamn dick inside some old whore, Tara gave him another chance, she gave him the opportunity to make things right, she offered the hope that if he did the right thing, she and their boys would be waiting for him in the end.

"The people in your life who surrounded Tara, they're capable of horrible things." Margaret said, gesturing to the disc that sat at the top of the stack of papers Jax held in his hand, her words piercing through the noise in his head.

Jax mumbled something unintelligible to Margaret as he stumbled out of the room, needing to get away, to be alone. He moved blindly down the halls, his father's letters clenched in his hand, Tara's key to the safety deposit back feeling as if it was a ton of bricks weighing down his pocket. He quickly made his way down the halls, his only coherent thought to get somewhere private, where he could puke his guts out, purge himself of his shame in peace. When he stumbled against a door and pushed his way through Jax wasn't even surprised to find himself standing in Tara's office.

A sense of calm settled over him, he could still smell Tara's perfume in the air. His eyes moved around the vacant room, replacing the empty space with the life that used to fill it. He pictured his wife sitting at her desk, hunched over some medical tome or another that he'd never be able to understand, but was so damn proud that his girl did. He saw his sons, Abel curled up on the sofa, a coloring book spread out on the cushion in front of him and Thomas, happily gurgling to himself from his carrier on the floor next to where Tara sat.

Jax lurched forward as he realized he would never see this scene again, that he would never burst through the office door and whisk his family home, never see the joy in his wife's smile as he told him about the surgery she was in that day. He staggered past Tara's desk and to the trashcan just as his stomach emptied itself of what little food he'd managed to take in the night before. Jax slid down the wall, sitting on the floor next to the bloodstain that remained, proof of how far Tara's desperation to get their family free of this had finally gone.

* * *

After Jax gathered himself together again, he returned to the daycare to pick up his boys and take them back to the ice cream shop.

"How did things go Jax?" Bobby asked, getting up from the counter to meet Jax at the door.

"Abel, go back with Chucky and Brooke and have them get you a snack." Jax said, letting go of Abel's hand as he turned him towards Chucky.

"I accept that." Chucky said with a grin, wiggling his fake fingers at Abel before clasping the boys hand and leading him towards the back where the chips and other snacks were kept. Brooke trailed behind them, glancing back suspiciously at Jax over her shoulder. Jax ignored the look as he lifted Thomas' carrier onto the counter and moved around to pull a bottle out of the fridge.

Chibs intercepted the bottle before Jax could give it to Thomas and stuck it in the microwave to heat up, before handing the bottle back to Jax. Jax thanked him silently with a sheepish look, before holding the bottle up to Thomas, who took it with a happy gurgle and held it between his small hands.

Jax watched Thomas for a moment, before reaching under his sweatshirt and pulling out the stack of letters that Margaret gave him.

"When Gemma gave me the letters from John to Maureen, she left a few out." Jax began, shuffling the papers. "Tara had copies made, left them with Margaret for safe keeping."

Chibs whistled under his breath as Bobby watched Jax to see the other man's reaction.

"And?" He prompted when Jax remained silent.

"And I have an idea what they say." Jax answered, pulling out the disc and resting it on top of the papers.

"Christ Jackie." Chibs whispered.

"After we found out that Clay put the hit on Tara, she began getting things together. Margaret said she had a safety deposit box in her name, I'll have to go back to the house for the other key."

"We can do that for you Jax, you don't need to go back there, we haven't gotten a crew out there to clean…" Bobby said trailing off as Jax shook his head.

"No. This box, it has letters and shit that Tara left for me and the boys. It's on me to do this."

Chibs and Bobby nodded their understanding.

"We'll go with you brother. Get some more shit for the boys, they're running out of clothes and no one wants them to start to smell, takes away the cute factor." Bobby decided.

Jax offered a small smile in response, as the bell over the front door to the shop rang.

"What can we do for you Deputy sheriff?" Chibs drawled, opening his arms wide.

"You need to come with us." Cane answered, his gaze meeting Jax's as he gestured to the door.

"What for?" Jax asked.

"For questioning about the deaths of Sheriff Roosevelt and Dr. Tara Knowles." Cane responded.

"Bullshit!" Chibs yelled, drawing the attention of the club members who were upstairs, drawing them down into the scene.

Jax stood up slowly, walking menacingly over to the deputy sheriff.

"You're honestly standing here in front of me, accusing me of killing me wife?" Jax bit out, glaring at the other man.

"As you were the one discovered with the bodies, it's a necessary part of the investigation to bring you in for questioning." Patterson's voice broke through the silence as she appeared in the doorway.

Jax glared and her, not bothering to say a word, that woman knew full well that he would never hurt Tara, that she and him were on the same page about the next step they would take. Instead, he just turned and offered his hands behind his back for Cane to put the cuffs on.

Bobby cursed from behind him. "We'll get Lowen." He said, then paused realizing that Lowen wasn't accepting their money any longer. "We'll get someone and have you out."

"Don't bother." Jax said, his gaze on Patterson as Cane led him past the woman and into the back of a police car.


	3. Chapter 2

Jax sat in the interrogation room, leaning back in his chair, his hands in his lap. He kept his gaze on the ceiling as he rocked back and forth in the chair. At the sound of the door opening, he planted the chair back on the ground and dropped the nonchalant façade.

"What the hell am I doing here?" He asked Patterson, throwing his arms out wide to gesture to room around him.

"Due diligence." She answered, moving to the chair on the opposite side of the table, Cane following her into the room silently.

She shuffled the folder in front of her, making of show of opening it up and leafing through a few papers before speaking. "Forensics came back, the gun found on the scene with your prints was not used to kill Sheriff Roosevelt."

"No shit." Jax said with a glare.

"All the bases need to be covered. For all we know you walked in on the scene, saw Tara on the ground, Roosevelt by the body and jumped to conclusions."

Jax simply raised a brow at the ludicrous statement.

"So with that theory, you're accusing your own sheriff of killing my wife?" He finally stated a moment later when it appeared Patterson didn't plan on continuing.

"No, forensics ruled that out as well. Eli only had minimal amounts of Dr. Knowles blood on him, mostly on the knees and wrists."

"He was still alive after she was killed." Cane said quietly.

Jax nodded, understanding that Roosevelt had most likely leaned down to check Tara; it explained his body's proximity to where he found Tara.

"So Mr. Teller, help us out here. Obviously Tara and Eli didn't get into an altercation that ended in their deaths, someone else was in that room."

Jax remained silent, his gaze steady on the woman.

"I don't know of any crews in the area who go after the wives of their _business associates_, especially with a sheriff just outside, who would have the gall to take that risk?"

"Why don't you tell me?" Jax offered, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back.

"An attack like this, it's personal." Patterson began, holding Jax's gaze. "Your club must not have been happy when you told them you were giving yourself up as the supplier for the school shooting."

Jax glanced around the room, noted the small camera mounted in the corner.

"Even if I _had _agreed to do something like that, take the fall for what happened to those kids, my club would have respected my decision and followed my wishes." He responded carefully.

"It was just a theory." Patterson said simply, shrugging her shoulders as she got to her feet. Jax pressed his lips together as he watched her move to the door, his mind working through the woman's words.

"You're free to go." She said at the last moment, before crossing the threshold.

Jax got to his feet and nodded at Cane.

"I'm sorry for your loss." He said simply, gesturing to the black band on his arm. "You in charge now?"

"For the moment, until they decide whether or not to send someone else in."

Jax nodded in understanding and moved passed the other man.

"I'm sorry." Cane blurted out, grabbing Jax's arm. "When Eli and his wife were trying to get pregnant, they had a consults with almost all the neonatal and OB doctors at St. Thomas." He paused. "Your wife, she was a good doctor, a good person, that's what Eli always said about her."

"Thanks you." Jax accepted the words quietly, feeling pride at yet another person's recognition of the type of woman Tara was.

* * *

Jax returned to the shop and instantly noted Gemma huddled in the corner with Abel and Thomas. She was talking to Abel quietly as he colored, while Unser sat on the opposite side of the booth rocking Thomas.

"That was quick." Bobby said coming up to greet him. Jax took a seat at the counter, Tig and Chibs leaning across from the other side to slap him on the back in welcome.

"It was just bullshit, Patterson trying to feel out if the deal was still on the table, if the club had any leads we were flushing out." Jax said.

"Did she have any ideas?" Juice asked, having come into the room when he heard the bell go off.

"Just bullshit. Nothing we hadn't already come up with, no crew would go after Tara. Even if someone was willing to go after us by hurting our family, we don't have the sort of beef that would produce that kind of hate. We're good with the Niners, even if the Mayans are still pissed about handing the guns to black, Alvarez knows Tara, he showed up at her goddamn funeral to pay his respects because she patched him up before. No way he put a hit on her and the Chinese are a mess right now, Lin's in no position to make that kind of move."

"What did Patterson think then?"

"Someone close to the club, someone with a personal investment." Jax responded.

Gemma's head perked up at his words, and she seemed to steel herself before speaking.

"They think someone in the club did this?" She slowly got to her feet and moved towards Jax. "What do you think?"

"That she's reaching, trying to get me to slip up and reveal the facts of the deal so she can continue forward with it, finally give the public a bad guy for the school." He paused a moment before continuing. "No one would hurt Tara, the guys knew about the deal, and were going to take care of her and the boys for me." Jax said, as Chibs, Tig, and Bobby nodded in agreement behind him.

"She's just a grasping bitch trying to cause trouble." Juice ground out.

"Yea." Jax agreed even as he shot a hard look at the other man.

Behind him Gemma began gathering up her bag and urging Abel out of the booth.

"What are you doing?" Jax asked, moving to stand in front of his mother.

"Taking the boys back to my house, they can't stay in the shop Jax, it's not right."

"They're with me, they're fine." Jax argued.

"They will be better in a familiar environment, give them a sense of normalcy."

"Are you planning on bringing them to St. Thomas then?" Jax asked evenly.

"Of course not." Gemma shot back.

"Then they're staying here. Tara always brought them to St. Thomas, that's a familiar place for them during the day, going to the daycare with their mother. Since you're not offering that, then they're fine here with me."

"You'll be in and out all day Jackson."

"They'll be fine with Chucky when I'm not here."

Gemma opened her mouth to argue, but Jax cut her off.

"My sons are staying with me." He said with finality.

Unser sensing the impending explosion got up from his seat and took Gemma's elbow, murmuring to her in low tones as he guided her passed Jax and out of the shop.

* * *

Nero sat outside a café in Stockton with his number two waiting for Marcus Alvarez to show up. Outside of a couple quick phone calls and meeting at Tara's funeral, the two haven't spoken for at long length since Nero appeared at the meeting with the Chinese.

"Nero! Good to see you brother." Alvarez called out as he appeared at Nero's table. Nero came to his feet with a smile and they exchanged quick hugs.

"How have you been?" Alvarez asked, taking the seat opposite Nero.

"Pretty good, been meeting with the crew, getting everyone on the same page."

"That's good." Marcus replied nodding. "And the Sons?"

Nero sat back in his chair and just shook his head.

"I stopped by to see Jax last week, he's got Bobby running point right now, just focusing on the kids." Nero replied, shaking his head as he thought back to the couple of times he has seen Jax, the emptiness in the other man's eyes.

"It's a dark thing that happened."

"It's plain wrong brother." Nero replied leaning forward. "Taking a mother away from her kids? That's not right."

"Do they have a lead on the guy?"

"Not that I've heard." Nero replied, looking at Marcus, the question evident in his eyes.

"This wasn't us, brother." Marcus answered holding his hands up. "I got a beef with the Sons and the mess they've left in Oaktown, but I'm not bringing that business beef home and put out a hit on Jax's wife."

"I just had to know for sure." Nero said simply.

"I liked the doctor." Marcus continued. "Our crew, we helped the Son's find her after she was kidnapped, she patched up a bullet for me, the doctor was a good woman."

"Yes she was." Nero replied sadly. "She just wanted away from all this, you know? Take those boys and get the hell of out town and away from all the shit that surrounds this life."

"I understand that." Marcus answered thinking about his discussion with Nero a few weeks back and Nero's own plan to buy his uncle's farm and get away from the life.

"She did some crazy shit trying to get out, actions she should never have been made so desperate to be willing to take." Nero added almost to himself remembering the last few weeks, Tara's faked miscarriage, the threat of her ratting on the club, and the revelation of all the shit that had been done to her since she returned to Charming.

"No crew in the area would do this Nero." Marcus said, bringing Nero's attention back to the present moment. "The relationships with the Sons run too deep with all the other crews, they wouldn't risk the fall out by going after the Sons president's wife. The mother charter, the wife of John Teller's son, that shit would bring all the fire of the Sons on anyone's door."

"I don't know what the hell happened." Nero said shaking his head. "She was home, the sheriff was outside. Who would make that move?"

"Did the doctor have enemies?"

"No, I mean she had problems with Jax's ex-wife trying to get in time with her son, but Wendy went into rehab that day, no way she was out and back in Charming in time to do this."

"It's got to be someone in the Sons then." Marcus responded simply. "They're the only ones who would have been able to get into the house and close enough to the doctor without the alarm being raised."

"No." Nero replied, his eyes wide in shock at the idea of Marcus suggested someone in the Sons would have taken Tara out. "They've known her since she was a kid, knew what she meant to Jax."

"It's just a theory." Was Marcus' only response. He leaned back in his chair and looked at Nero. "We've given Jax and the Sons some time to mourn, but business isn't going to wait forever my friend, it's time we make sure we keep what's ours." He said sharing a telling glance with Nero. Nero nodded his agreement, tamping down the sick feeling in his gut that was forming at the thought of throwing himself back into this world.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Happy New Years everyone! Totally bummed with how this 2013 season ended and apathetic about 2014 at the moment, without Tara, I kind of don't care what happens at this point, just gonna watch to see it through to the bloody end. But holding out hope that not only is her presence felt in the aftermath of this finale, but that we get obvious confirmation from Jax of his feelings for Tara and a promise that he'll make sure their boys know who their mother was.

Thank you all again for the reviews! I love them, they keep me writing! Aiming for once to twice weekly updates, we'll see how things unfold, I haven't completely figured out the end game, but the idea is forming. So thank you all again and hope that 2014 brings you all good things.


	4. Chapter 3

After the altercation with Gemma, Jax sat down at the booth and played with his sons for a little while, before passing them off to Chucky and stating his intention to return to the house.

Bobby and Chibs instantly jumped up to join him, while Juice said he'd go check in on Gemma to make sure she made it back home okay.

Bobby and Chibs shared a telling look, each making a mental note that they'll have to discuss Juice with Jax again soon.

The three pulled up in front of Jax's house, the police car that had been stationed there was long gone, but the crime scene tape still crisscrossed over the door. Jax ripped it down as he jammed his key in the look and pushed the door open. He put on mental blinders as he turned instantly to the right and made his way down the hallway. He passed by Tara's abandoned suitcase and heard the Bobby and Chib's footsteps as they followed him down the hall.

Jax went straight to his bedroom and walked around the bed to Tara's side. He swallowed as he opened the drawer in the nightstand on her side of the bed, hating to see it empty of all the knickknacks and other items that represented all of Tara's different sides.

He noted the fully empty drawer, reaching in deep to run his hand along the back to see if he had missed anything.

"It's not here." He said quietly.

"What isn't?" Bobby asked.

"The second key to the deposit box."

"Where else would she have hid it?" Chibs asked, opening the closet door and peering inside.

Jax felt a shudder pass through his body as he looked at the empty closet, the physical reminder that Tara had been willing to leave him to get their kids out, that he had driven her to desperation with his broken promises.

"There's nothing in here." Chibs added.

Jax moved across to the other side of the bed and sat down heavily. He knew from his search that painful night that the dresser drawers were empty of anything but his clothes. He leaned over and pulled open the drawer in the nightstand on his side of the bed, pulling out all the random shit that he would drop in there and never look at again.

On the bottom of the drawer he saw the small piece of paper, folded up tightly into a square. He pulled it out carefully and held it in the palm of his hand. He stared at it a moment, suddenly uncomfortable at the thought of having what he needed to get the letters that Tara wrote him, almost frightened at what he would find.

He slowly unfolded the paper and dropped the key into his hand, he instantly recognized Tara's handwriting on the paper.

_Take care of our boys Jax. I love you. _

_Stockton Union, Box #4821. _

Jax crushed the paper in his hand as he read the words she left for him on the paper. He got to his feet without a word and went back out into the hallway.

"We'll grab some more clothes and things for the boys." Bobby said quietly, gesturing for Chibs to get items for Thomas while he went into Abel's room. Jax continued down the hall as if he didn't hear them and headed straight for the room he avoided earlier.

He stopped in the doorway, staring at the two bloodstains that marred the kitchen floor and the dried blood that still covered the counter and the cabinets beneath it. He slowly continued forward, stepping over the bloodstain that marked where Eli had fallen and back to where he had collapsed to the floor with Tara in his arms that night. He returned to the same position, sliding slowly down so that he sat on the floor, his knees drawn up to his chest as he stared at the bloodstain from where Tara's body lay.

He took a deep breath, gagging as the smell of blood and death filled his nostrils and lifted his arms to his knees and knelt his down to rest on his fisted hands. He nodded against his hands, trying to replace the image of blood and gore that was his kitchen to images of happier times, of Tara with Thomas in her arms and Abel coloring at the table, of ruffling Abel's hair as he leaned over to see what the latest masterpiece was while Tara smiled fondly and sipped her coffee, of kisses of greeting quickly exchanged in between keeping an eye on the kids or heading out for the next errand of the day.

"Oh Jackie." Chibs quiet voice, broke the image of better times as Jax lifted his head to meet the Scot's gaze.

Bobby appeared behind him, dropping the bags that he had filled with things for Abel on the ground by the front door.

Bobby looked back at all the bags, at Tara's suitcase still in the hallway and shook his head. Jax and his family needed to be home again, so they can started to put their life back together, they shouldn't be bringing more things to the clubhouse, be digging deeper into that temporary arrangement.

"What do you want to do about the house Jax?" Bobby asked quietly looking around. He thought back to when Jax used to have the guys over when he and Wendy were married, it looked more like a bachelor pad then a young married couple's home. Once Jax went inside and Tara moved in officially, she totally renovated it, changed it from the cold mess it was to a family home. Abel's pictures lined the walls and refrigerator, an easel was in the dining room and curtains covered all the windows, all parts of the feminine touch that both the house and Jax desperately needed.

"Burn it." Jax replied in a low tone.

"What?" Chibs asked, thinking he misheard him.

"We can get cleaning crews in here, make the place look like new so you and the boys can come home. Get back into a normal routine." Bobby continued quickly.

"Burn the fucking place to the ground." Jax darkly. "This place is a poison, I don't give a shit what happens to it."

"This is your home Jackie, you have good memories here too." Chibs said, trying to make him see sense.

"It's not a home without Tara." Jax said simply.

"We can decide what the best option is later on." Bobby finally said, knowing that Jax wasn't going to budge. "We can get the place cleaned up, and go from there."

Jax nodded his agreement, leaving the house in the state it was didn't help anyone, he could just let the clean it up and then sell the damn thing for all he cared, no matter what anyone thought, there was no way in hell he was bringing his sons back into the place where their mother was killed. It wasn't happening.

* * *

"Gemma!" Unser called out as he struggled to keep up with Gemma as she stalked up the driveway to the house.

Gemma ignored the older man as she threw open the front door and stormed her way inside, making her way straight to the liquor cabinet.

"Don't you think you've had enough?" Unser asked wearily as he finally caught up with the woman and noted her already at the dining room table with a lit joint in her hand and bottle and glass sitting in front of her.

Gemma simply glared at him in response.

"My son is keeping me away from my grandsons." She said simply.

"No your son, whose wife was just murdered is keeping the two living pieces of her that he has left close by." Unser corrected sitting heavy in the seat to Gemma's right.

Gemma chose to ignore Unser as she took another puff on the joint.

Unser sat silently at Gemma's side, watching her slowly alternate between puffs and sips of booze. Working up the strength to ask what he needed to ask he leaned forward in the chair and rested his elbows on the table.

"That night, you took my truck out after I told you about Jax turning himself in."

Gemma remained silent as she blew out smoke.

"You came to the garage, in different clothes and a wreck." He continued.

"I thought my son was going to prison, I was upset."

"I don't think that's everything Gemma." Unser replied shaking his head. "I was around last time Jax went inside, you held everyone together, understood that prison is a part of this life he leads."

"That was for a short sentence, he was going to get out soon, this was for gun charges stemming from a school shooting." Gemma argued.

"You didn't know it was going to be short time at first, Jax didn't inform you of the deal he made with Stahl."

"It was different then."

"Because this time you thought Tara was the one who put him there?" Unser asked.

"What are you getting at Wayne?" Gemma asked with a glare.

"Remember when I told you that you had two paths to take? That one would keep your family in your life, and the other would push them away?"

Gemma nodded slowly.

"I was just thinking how much a shame it was that those two paths have changed so radically." He responded cryptically getting to his feet.

"Where you going?"

"Gonna stop by the trailer, make sure it's still where I left it."

"See you for dinner?"

"Yea, I'll be back by then." He replied, pulling his keys out of his pocket and making his way back to the door.

* * *

**Author's Note: ** So the suspicions are brewing! Where's Unser heading off too? Cause we know he's not really going to the trailer. Would he actually turn on Gemma? And poor Jax, that house has seen too much death, I can't imagine him wanting to bring his boys back to the place where their mother died. Hopefully he doesn't really plan on taking a match to it. That all being said, I'm still on the hate Unser bandwagon, his suspicions put those thoughts in Gemma's head, set her off in a rage and not only did he take no action to stop her, but he nonchalantly made his way to the club to let them know she was missing. Actually maybe I don't blame Unser, I blame the show, creating the situation they needed to kill Tara by making characters act out of character to set it up. I mean this is Unser, yes he's had his bad moments, yes he loves Gemma, but the guy isn't stupid. He know what effect that kind of news would have on Gemma. And rant over.

Thank you guys again for all of the reviews, for sticking with me and this story and lastly for putting up with the rambles in these notes.


	5. Chapter 4

When they arrived at the bank in Stockton, Jax had Bobby and Chibs wait for him outside while he went in to get the contents of Tara's safety deposit box. Once inside he quickly signed the necessary forms and blindly filled his bag with the box's contents, not wanting to risk seeing something that he wouldn't want to deal with the resulting emotions in public.

He thanked the woman who retrieved the box for him and returned outside to where Chibs and Bobby waited at their bikes. Jax gestured for them to follow him, but Bobby stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"While we're out here brother, we need to talk about Juice." Bobby said.

"He's been more fidgety than usual." Chibs pointed out.

Jax understood their concern, but shrugged it off. "When I was about to go inside, I told Juice that I knew what he had told Nero. He's probably just wondering when I'm gonna do something about it."

"And when are you?" Bobby asked.

"I don't know Bobby, I have shit on my plate right now that's a little more important than holding Juice's hand until we decide what to do with him." Jax snapped out.

"We know that Jackie, but if we can't trust him, then we need to handle it." Chibs said placatingly

"Bobby, you've got the gavel now, it's your decision, call a vote or not, I don't give a shit what happens to him now, he's a rat and I don't trust him."

"You know that title's in name only." Bobby argued. "I'd give you the gavel back this very second if I thought you'd actually take it."

"I know." Jax said with a sigh, feeling guilty about leaving his club torn between his position as the former president and Bobby getting the gavel simply because Jax thought he'd be going inside. "I just need to figure this all out. I need to know what happened to Tara, who did it. I need to take care of my family first right now, then I can take care of the club."

"We understand that brother." Bobby agreed.

"Just keep him on Gemma duty for now." Jax said after a few moments. "They seem to be getting along these last couple of weeks, tell him we're worried about her safety after everything with Tara."

"Got it." Chibs responded as he put his helmet on to roll out. He didn't like the thought of Juice still being privy to club business, but relieved not to have to make the decision of his fate just yet.

"You guys go on ahead." Jax said hefting the bag in his arms. "I need some time with this."

"You shouldn't be alone brother." Chibs said, pulling off his helmet.

"No, this is something I need to do on my own."

Bobby nodded his understanding and took Chibs' arm to guide him back to his bike.

Jax watched his friends go before getting onto his own bike and pointing it in the direction of Stockton's park. The sun was low in the sky when Jax pulled into an empty spot and he remained on his bike for a moment taking it all in, thinking about the last time he was at this park. He felt sick remembering all the things Tara had said to him, how she was so sure he and the guys were there to kill her. He remembered how she tried to explain to him the monster he had become, all the while trying to keep her own fear and pain in check, not wanting their boys to notice anything wrong even as she asked him to let her say goodbye, to not kill her in front of their sons. Jax fought back the tears at these thoughts, at the idea that the woman he loved, had become so afraid of him.

He got off his bike and slowly walked to one of the picnic tables at the edge of the park. He sat down heavily and opened the bag that he had filled with the items Tara left for him in the safety deposit box. He noted multiple discs, making a mental note to get a computer down to the shop so he could watch them later. He reached into the bag again and pulled out a stack of papers. Jax absently shuffled through them, noting that it was an updated will. He put that aside with the discs and pulled out sealed envelopes. Jax took a breath when as he turned them over and saw their sons names on the front of each one. He hated that Tara had become so concerned that she would meet a bad end that she had put all this together.

Finally he pulled out the last envelope, this time addressed to him. He opened the sealed flap slowly, dreading reading Tara's words.

_Jax,_

_I hate that it's come to this baby. That I'm not able to be there with you, that we didn't get out of this life together with our boys like we planned. I have letters in there for each of them, I just wanted some way to speak to them. To tell them of the hopes and dreams we had for them, to let them know how much I love them. I want you to give them to the boys when they're older, you'll know when it's the right time. It breaks my heart to think I'm not going to be there to watch them grow up, to see the men they will become. It's on you now baby, you have to promise me that you'll make sure they grow up to be good men, that they have more opportunities for a life away from this one, a life we never got the chance to live together. _

_I've updated my will, whatever money is left after the lawyers I want to be put into trust for the boys. I want them to go to college, to have a chance for the future. I also named Margaret Murphy as guardian in case we both went together. Margaret has been good to me Jax. She has been a friend, a support when I needed one. I know that if anything happened to me, she would make sure to give the boys a good home, to raise them in a way we would want them to be raised. I know that guardianship doesn't matter now, but I just needed you to know that._

_I'm so sorry for the way I've hurt you, I'm sorry that I made you think we made our little girl and then took her away from you. I just didn't know what else to do to get our family away from your mother and out of Charming. I know you couldn't let the club die Jax, but staying here, our family was dying. And since you're reading this, then Charming has taken me away from our family._

_I know you have already been to see Margaret and she has given you the letters. Read them Jax, your father, John Teller, he knew Clay and Gemma were plotting against him, he could sense your mother's distance, Clay's impatience. JT knew there would be two attempts before they finally succeeded. And Jax, while JT may have only sensed that Gemma gave her approval to Clay's actions, I know her better than that. You do too, if you look beyond a son's love for his mother, you would agree, Gemma is not the type to sit back passively and let the men handle business that she thinks concerns her. _

_Keep our boys away from your mother Jax. Promise me. So much of what I did, why I lied about my fight with your mother was to make sure that if I went inside she couldn't get custody of our boys. I don't trust her, if she's capable of killing her husband, then she is capable of _anything_._

_ I love you baby and always will._

Jax leaned back, ice flooding his veins as Tara's words sank in. His mind ran back to Patterson's words about Tara's death being personal, his own words about none of the crews being willing to go after a Son's wife. He tried to think back to that night, tried to remember when they told Gemma of Jax's plan to give himself up as the gun supplied in exchange for the charges against Tara being dropped.

Jax shook his head and took a deep breath, pushing the nausea that he felt building in his throat down.

He was reaching, letting other people's insinuations get the best of him. Jax knows his mother, he understands what she's capable of, especially when it comes to family. But Tara was her family too, she loved her like a daughter, Gemma would never damage their family that way. With a last run of his hands through his hair in frustration, Jax got up from the bench and made his way back to his bike.

* * *

Unser slowly walked through the halls of the sheriff's station glancing around as the feeling of nostalgia came over him at the familiar sights and sounds of a police station. He continued past the main desk toward Cane's office. His step slowed as he passed Roosevelt's office, it's lights off and door closed. He said a couple of words of prayer under his breath for the fallen man before knocking on Cane's door.

"What can I do for you?" Cane asked after calling Unser in to his office.

"I just wanted to stop by see if there was anything I could do to help with the investigation." Unser said dropping into the chair opposite Cane.

"Once a cop always a cop?" Cane asked, the suspicion evident in his tone. He wasn't stupid, he knew just as well as Eli, that Unser had ties with the MC, that he had used his badge to protect them in the past.

"I guess so." Unser replied with a shrug.

"We've got plenty of people working on the investigation already."

"Got any leads?" Unser asked leaning forward in his chair.

Cane reached down to open the drawer and pulled out a file.

"Dr. Knowles was stabbed multiple times in the head." He said carefully, watching Unser closely. "The attack was vicious, and the weapon was not found at the scene of the crime. The coroner believes it was a two-pronged item, he's guessing a carving fork." He continued noting Unser's flinch at the description.

"And Eli?"

"Shot twice in the back, weapon was also not found at the scene." He said simply.

"So it didn't match Jax's gun?" Unser asked, betraying his knowledge that Jax's gun had been found on scene.

"No." Cane responded. "Teller has been cleared of this."

"So you're looking at someone having entered the house, killed Tara and Eli then cleaned up the scene?" Unser mused.

"No." Cane responded curtly. At Unser's questioning look he responded measuredly. "We're looking at two killers, one for Knowles and one for Eli. Why take the time to beat and stab Knowles if a gun was in play?"

* * *

**Author's Note:** I don't think I can express how amazing you guys have all been enough! Thank you so much for the reviews! Can I just say, I love using the letters and videos to have Tara tell Jax she loves him. The one thing she refused to say when she was trying to distance herself to be strong enough to make the play she needed to make, I love that deep down, she still loved him and it's terrible that it took her death for Jax to consistently hear those words that he wanted to hear all season. And also, more buzzing in Jax's ear about Gemma. As much as I would love for Tara to stick it to Gemma from the grave, I can honestly see Jax not being willing to accept that Gemma is capable of killing Tara until the evidence is right in front of him. But the thought is there, buried under his unwillingness to believe horrible things about his mother, but it's there.

Also, I just want provide a warning, the next chapter is when the story begins to propel forward, as knowledge starts to be gained and lies unravel, well, this is SOA so violence will ensue. That being said, for the remaining chapters, especially chapter 5 on, the "M" rating on this story is coming into play for more than language, there is upcoming violence (including male against female, which I don't condone, but it was necessary for the story), and death. Given the history of this show, I hope no one is offended, but I just wanted to offer a heads up. Thank you all again!


	6. Chapter 5

Nero waited a couple of days after his meeting with Alvarez to go check in on Jax and the sons. He had just pulled up across the street from the ice cream shop and was getting ready to cross the street to the ice cream shop when he noticed the woman huddled against the alley wall. Grateful for the short reprieve to what's likely to be another uncomfortable afternoon trying to find the right words to support a grieving husband, Nero changed direction and walked over to the woman, already digging into his pocket for some cash to give her.

"Hey." He said softly, leaning down to be closer to level with the woman. "You need something to eat? I can give you some cash for food."

The woman opened her eyes and stared at him vacantly.

"You gotta use it for food though, don't be using it to snort some shit up your nose." He said reaching out to hand her some bills.

"I don't do that stuff." She said cocking her head at him. "Got enough thoughts in my head without fake ones."

"Don't we all." Nero said with a gruff laugh, not at all put off by the reference to psychological issues. He's dealt with plenty of crazy in his time, if he was smarter he would've gone to school or something and put that training on the streets to good use.

Nero got back to his feet with another reminder for the woman to get some food. As he dusted off his pants he looked towards the shopping cart on her other side.

"What do you got in there?" He asked slowly, the blood in his veins beginning to freeze as he took a step closer.

"Just stuff."

"Where'd you get this stuff?" He asked slowly, dread filling him as he reached out to finger the familiar black shirt.

"Here and there." She said cryptically.

"Where did you get this?" Nero clarified pulling the shirt off of the cart.

"Off Rustic Ave, people throw out what they don't want in the dumpsters there. Good stuff."

"Did you find anything else there, when you found this?"

"Sure lots of stuff." She said, slowly getting to her feet to rummage through the cart. Nero crumbled up the shirt he held in his hand, biting back nausea at the coppery smell of blood that poured from it. He watched as the woman pulled out a pair of jeans, some other clothing and knickknacks and a carving fork.

Horror washed over Nero and he reached out to snatch the fork from the woman's hand. She cried out in surprise and Nero calmed himself enough to hold the fork and shirt in the crook of his elbow as he rummaged into his wallet for more cash.

"How about I take these couple of things off your hands for you?" He said quickly offering the money, as the bundled the shirt, jeans, and fork. The woman didn't complain, couldn't go wrong with cash she thought to herself as she slid back down the alleywall and watched the man get back into his truck and speed away.

* * *

Nero pulled into Gemma's driveway with a screech of tires and threw himself out of the cab of the truck. He started yelling her name as he made his way up the walkway and began banging on her door.

"What!" Gemma yelled out as she wrenched the door open.

Nero pushed past her into the house and stalked to the kitchen. He waited as Gemma closed the door behind him, noted how she stopped to down a shot of her drink before joining him in the room.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Gemma asked crossing her arms over her chest. "You dumped me remember?"

Nero shook his head, forced away the argument of how he wanted to build a future with her, that it was her decision to deny him, to remain in Charming with the club she held so dear.

"Mama, that night we fought, what did you do?"

"What?" Gemma asked, the fog that perpetually surrounded her making it difficult to make sense of Nero's question. "What do you think I did? Came back here to drink and smoke away my disappointment."

"And that's all you did?" He pressed.

"Yea until Juice found me to tell me what happened to Tara."

Nero just shook his head sadly. "You know I love you mama, you know I wanted to give you a better life than this, you can be honest with me."

"I am being honest with you and I like my life." She shot back.

Nero reached behind him from where he had hid the bundle when he entered the room and held it out to Gemma, watching her intently as her eyes widened.

"Where did you get that?" She asked, having trouble catching her breath as her face turned chalk white.

"It doesn't matter where I got it." He said, slowly unfolding the shirt to show Gemma the fork the lay inside. "What matters is what the hell did you do Gemma? What did you do to your daughter in-law. What did you do to that mother!" He asked his voice growing louder with each question as he ended with a yell.

"I thought she ratted!" Gemma burst out reaching for the bundle in Nero's hands. Nero jerked it back out of her reach, placing it behind him as he laid his hands on Gemma's shoulder and moved her backwards towards the wall as she yelled. "I thought she betrayed Jax! Had him sent to prison for selling the gun that that kid used in the shooting!"

"Jax did do those things! Jax gave us the guns that Daveny's kid got!"

"Those kids aren't on him! He didn't send that boy into the school with a gun!"

"And what did Tara do? Huh mama?" Nero asked leaning close into Gemma's space. "What did Tara do to deserve to die?"

"She betrayed this family!"

"No." Nero said in a low tone. "This family betrayed her. Took her career, threatened her freedom and threatened her sons. She hurt you and Jax, I know she did, but desperate women do desperate things. And that woman was desperate for a different life for those boys." When Gemma looked to interrupt he held his hand in front of her face to silence her. "No, Jax was good with Tara, I saw it that night. He wasn't rampaging around that house looking to take her out, he was broken, lost that she left with those boys."

"She lied and she would've have betrayed us." Gemma said stubbornly.

Nero just shook his head sadly.

"No she didn't." He simply said dropping his hands and taking a step back.

"What are you gonna do?" Gemma asked, swallowing to hide her nervousness as she held her head eye to stare Nero in the eye.

"I have no fucking clue mama." He replied morosely, shaking his head as he gathered up the bundle of clothing and fork.

"You can't tell Jax!" Gemma cried, reaching out to grab Nero's arm to stop him as he passed her. "This would kill him! Who would take care of the boys if I wasn't here?"

"This has already killed him." He replied, shrugging her off as Gemma stumbled and steadied herself on the edge of the table. "You need to tell him the truth Gemma. You can't keep this kind of secret from him, he's never going to heal if he doesn't know what happened." Nero offered kindly.

"He'd never forgive me." Gemma answered dully.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Your decisions put you in this spot, you have to take that risk to make it right." He responded pointing a finger at her.

"So you're not going to tell him?" Gemma asked gesturing to the bundle in Nero's hands.

"I'm going to let you do the right thing." He answered simply, continuing past her and out the door.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Finally! Some truth is coming out! I have to admit, I wrote this chapter before chapter 3 was even finished and couldn't wait to post it, was really happy with how it turned out. I love the idea of the homeless woman being the reason the truth comes out and Nero having to make the decision of what to do with the truth. He's giving Gemma the chance to come clean to Jax. Will she? What's Nero going to do if she doesn't?

As always reviews are appreciated and thank you all so much for the feedback!


	7. Chapter 6

With the shop empty, the club sat down amongst the tables as Tig filled them in on the call he had received from Charlie with the latest updates from Stockton.

"It's Alvarez man." Tig said. "He's pissed about black being the big man in guns now."

"We had no control over the cartel pulling out, it's just shit timing." Bobby said shaking his head.

"You knew about the attack at the warehouse?" Jax questioned looking at Chibs and Bobby.

Chibs opened his mouth to respond, but Bobby cut in.

"Charlie told us about the kill that day." Bobby said. "But you were about to go inside brother, it didn't seem right throwing that at you last minute, and then after everything that happened, it just hasn't been the right time." He finished quickly.

Jax sat back in his chair wearily, running a hand over his face. "I don't know what the fuck Charlie wants us to do. We can't be the cops of the ghetto anymore, that was the whole point of all this, to get the club away from it, move things legit."

"No point in setting up a meeting with Alvarez, we've already done that and look where it ended." Tig pointed out.

The others nodded in agreement, each man falling silent, no one having a clue where to begin to deal with the situation in Stockton. Their heads jerked up as the bell over the door rang and Nero appeared clutching a bundle of rags to his chest.

* * *

Nero gave Gemma two days to talk to her son, he made sure to stop by the shop each night to check in and when nothing changed, he decided that it was finally time. He loved Gemma, more than he could explain, and while he could respect her desire to keep her involvement in her husband's death a secret from Jax, he couldn't hide this anymore. It was too raw, too terrible. He felt guilt, that if he hadn't tried to push Gemma, if he hadn't broken things off with her that day, she couldn't have done what she did to her daughter-in-law. Nero felt sick at the thought of Jax and the club rampaging after every lead and never finding out what happened that day. He couldn't deal with the thought of those two little boys growing up without knowing what happened to their mother.

Nero entered the shop, the bundle clutched tightly in his arms as he noted the members of the MC in the room.

"The boys asleep?" He asked entering the room and noting the absence of the two children.

"Getting dinner with Chucky and Brooke." Bobby responded, an eyebrow raised at the bundle in Nero's arms.

"Can I get a minute?" Nero asked Jax, whose eyes were fixed on the bundle of clothes.

At Jax's nod the others began to file out of the room, Chibs grabbed Juice's arm and steered him up the stairs when the younger man saw the bundle in Nero's arms and paled, freezing on the spot. Chibs and Bobby shared a speaking glance as they mad their way upstairs.

Nero waited until the club members had left the room before turning back to the front door and flipped the sign from open to closed.

"What's going on Nero?" Jax asked crossing his arms in front of his chest and nodding at the bundle.

"You might want to sit down for this mano." Nero said simply, not stepping any closer.

"I'm good here." Jax said.

Nero took a steadying breath. Now that he had Jax's attention, he didn't know where to begin, wasn't sure if he had the strength to do what he needed to do, to betray the woman he loved, and send the man whom he thought of as a brother world crashing down.

"I was going to stop by and check in earlier this week." He began.

Jax nodded for him to continue.

"I got distracted by this girl in the alley. A homeless girl." Nero continued. "She didn't look too good, so I stopped to give her some money." He paused.

"And?" Jax prompted a minute later wondering what Nero was getting at. What did some homeless woman have to do with anything?

"She had some clothes and stuff in her cart." He said slowly. "I asked where she found them, she said off Rustic Ave." He continued, pausing when Jax's eyes widened as understanding began to dawn.

Nero held out the bundle to Jax. Jax carefully accepted the bundle, unable to miss the smell of the blood that the clothes were covered in.

"Your mom was wearing this when we argued about leaving Charming." Nero simply said, unsure of how else to explain the terrible truth.

Jax went numb as he pulled the shirt aside to reveal the carving fork underneath. He fell to his knees as Nero's words sunk in. His fingers running over the familiar utensil, tracing the red stains left behind. His mind raced to Tara's letter, to her warning that his mother was capable of more than he was willing to admit. He thought back to Patterson's statement of this being personal. His mind went back to that day, to Unser coming into the shop and hearing of Jax's plan to turn himself in. He remembered Unser saying someone should let Gemma in on the plan, and remembered himself brushing off the older man, having arrogantly thought his mother didn't need to know anything until he and the club were ready to tell her. He separated the fork from the clothes and blindly handed back the bundle of clothes to Nero.

"Jax." Nero said quietly stepping closer.

"She's capable of anything." Jax said darkly, his fingers tracing over the remnants of his wife's blood. He lunged to the side as the nausea rose up, vomiting in sick realization of what his mother had done of what she was capable of.

He spit the taste out of his mouth as he returned to a kneeling position, holding the fork in his hands almost reverently. He thought about all Tara did, about her attempts to keep Gemma from their sons and hated that he was so blind to what Tara had seen in his mother. He heard an anguished cry and was shocked to realize it was coming from him as he clutched the fork to his chest, the thunder on the stairs announcing the club's reaction to Jax's cry.

Chibs was down the stairs first, dropping to his knees next to Jax when he saw the fork clutched in the younger man's hands. Happy dropped to Jax's other side, both men wrapping their arms around Jax as he broke down in tears.

Bobby moved to Nero's side and nodded at the clothes he still held in his hands.

"Whose?" He asked in a deadly tone, glancing back quickly to make sure Juice was still in the room.

Nero shook his head, it was one thing to tell Jax of his mother's betrayal, it was another to bring it up to the whole club, he couldn't do that. If Jax wanted the club to know, that was his decision to make.

Tig swallowed slowly at the sight of Jax on the ground, the blood-covered fork in his hand. He looked back to Nero staring at the other man sadly, and then to Juice, standing in the background pale and shaking.

As the bell over the door chimed the men looked up at once, worried that Chucky and Brooke had returned with the boys early.

Gemma strode through the door, her mouth already open to ask about the boys when she noted the guys huddled in the corner around the fallen Jax. She saw his tear streaked face, her own paling as her gaze dropped to the fork in his hand. She quickly glanced over to Nero, her suspicions confirmed as she recognized her bloody clothes in his hand. Behind him Juice shook his head quickly, stepping back to try to show Gemma that he hadn't said anything.

"Bastard." She said under her breath as her gaze turned back to Jax who had shrugged off Happy and Chibs' hands. Jax and Gemma stared at each other silently in stalemate across the room for a moment, before Jax sprung into action. He threw off any remaining hands on his person and rushed across the room, the fork in one hand the other reaching for Gemma's throat.

His hand clenched around his mother's throat Jax backed her against the glass of the window of the shop, squeezing tighter with each step. Gemma's hands came up to grasp at his, trying to desperately pull him off of her.

"Jax!" No!" Came the yells from the rest of the club, their words drowned out by the screaming rage in Jax's head, he only responded when he felt their hands pulling him away from Gemma.

"I'm fine!" He yelled, trying to fight off Happy, Chibs, and Tig as Bobby and Nero stood between him an Gemma. "I've got this." He said in a quieter tone exchanging a speaking look with Bobby who nodded and stepped aside pulling Nero along with him.

Jax walked back up to Gemma, crowding her as he pointed the prongs of the fork at her throat.

"You killed my wife." He said, hate lacing his tone.

"I thought she had ratted, sent you to prison." Gemma said desperately.

Jax ignored her words, knowing that he would just waste his breath reminding Gemma that even if Tara had ratted it wasn't her place to retaliate.

"Did she scream?" Jax asked, waving the fork in front of his mother, making sure she caught sight of the bloodstains. "Did she even get the chance to try to save herself?"

He pressed the fork against his mother's throat as she gasped out. Tig stepped closer holding a hand out, ready to intervene if this went any further. Nero tried to get in between Jax and Gemma, but Bobby's hand on his arm held him back. The other man shook his head, silently indicating that this was Jax's call, no one was to intervene.

"I thought she had hurt our family." Gemma finally said, tears rolling down her face.

"Tara was my family!" Jax yelled in Gemma's face. "You killed my family!" He yelled again shoving her away.

"Call Cane." Jax shot over to Bobby.

"Jackson!" Gemma cried out to her son as Tig led her over to one of the booths.

"Tell him to get down here and pick up the bitch who killed my wife." He ordered without sparing another glance.

* * *

**Author's Note:** So the big reveal. I took a liberty in bringing everyone into the same place, I like the idea of Jax acting on instinct and not methodically going after his mother. I am planning on giving them some time later on for a "conversation" this was more of Jax is so disgusted that he can't even be in the same room as his mother, he's so done with her he can't even pull out the energy to kill her. So he's going to let her face justice the way a normal person would, not a member of the MC because she isn't.

I also love Nero being the one going to Jax with this. As much as he loves Gemma, he has always been a voice of reason to Jax, and he doesn't seem like the type to let his personal feelings for someone stop him from doing the right thing. So he gave Gemma a chance, he gave her time to come clean, and she didn't, so Nero made sure Jax knew who to put his hate on.

As always thank you all so much for the reviews! Let me know what you think of the truth finally getting out there.


	8. Chapter 7

As the club waited for the familiar siren and flashing lights that would announce the cops' arrival, Gemma sobbed to herself alone in one of the booths. Jax remained upstairs as far away from his mother as he could possibly get as he put one of the discs Tara made into the computer's drive.

"Abel, Thomas." Tara's voice floated warmly from the screen as she appeared into view. Her long curly hair fell over her shoulders, Jax using it to guess that Tara made the video right around the time she volunteered in the prison.

"_Hi, it's mommy." She said with a sad smile. "Or mom, I guess, whichever you prefer, right now it's mommy, but you're going to be older when you see this, so mom works too." _

_She leaned forward to pick up the camera and slowly scan the room._

"_This was my office." She said over the moving camera. "I don't know if you remember, but when you both were little I'd bring you in here with me at lunchtime. Abel you loved to color, you always had a paper in front of you when you sat on the couch while I fed Thomas."_

_She turned the camera back so her face filled the screen, her eyes sad._

"_I hope your daddy told you all about me and how we met and fell in love. How we ended up with you two beautiful boys, but I wanted to have a chance to tell you our story too." _

_She put the camera back down and sat in the chair._

"_If you're still in Charming, then you know how small of a town it is, and if you think it's big, let me assure you, it's a small town. It's the kind of town where everyone knows everyone else, even if you've never met. That was what it was like for your father and I in high school. We never spoke, but I knew of your dad, who couldn't, he was the MC's prince? And shockingly, when we were sixteen, your dad noticed me too."_

_Her smile turned nostalgic as she continued. "We had a lot of good times, got in a lot of trouble too, so make sure you boys don't follow in our footsteps that way." She paused, before picking up the camera and walking across the office as she continued._

"_I always wanted to be a doctor. Anything that would get me out of this town, but I didn't really believe it would happen. But when I was nineteen I got a scholarship to UC San Diego. I hated leaving your dad, all I wanted was for us to be together. I asked him to come with me, but he couldn't leave the club. So I did what I thought was best and left." She finished, zooming the camera in on her nameplate on the door._

"_And I became a doctor. It was a lot of hard work, but I wouldn't change a moment of it. And it gave me the opportunity to come back, back to Charming and back to your father."_

"_It was like fate brought us back together." She said returning to her chair and placing the camera back in place. "Things were difficult, but your dad and I, we were always stronger together than apart and we made it through. And we had you boys who we loved so much to keep us going."_

_She picked up the camera again and moved out of the office. _

"_I just want to show you a little bit of my world." Tara continued, stopping outside the daycare. One of the assistants waved in the background as Tara started again. "Whenever I was in the office, this is where you boys stayed. Don't tell the other kids, but you were the staff's favorite." Tara said, turning the camera on herself and smiling._

"_I was a pediatric surgeon." Tara continued as she moved through the halls of the hospital to the surgical ward. "One of my first patient's in Charming, was you Abel. Helping save you, was one of the proudest moments of my life." She finished filming one of the surgical bays. "And Thomas, the perfect combination of Jax and I, you were the best thing we ever made together."_

_The video went to black a moment, before returning with Tara back at her desk. "Remember boys, your future is your own. No matter how difficult it may seem, if you put in the time and the effort you can become anything you want. Reach for the stars my sons. Mommy loves you."_

Already an emotional wreck from the revelation of Gemma's treachery, Jax broke down anew as he watched Tara's video to their sons.

He paused the video, reaching out a hand to run his fingers over Tara's image on the screen. At the wail of the siren he wiped his eyes and took a deep breath, preparing himself to go back downstairs and face the horrible reality that was his life.

* * *

Cane entered the shop slowly, uncomfortable with answering the cryptic call from Bobby Munsen to meet the MC at the shop. As he stepped over the threshold he instantly made note of the different players and their positions in the room, before his eyes fell on Jax Teller as the other man came down the stairs.

"So what am I doing here?" Cane asked simply, wondering if this was Teller's way of getting back at him for hauling him in the other day.

Jax nodded his head towards Nero, who lifted the bundle of clothes he had in his hand towards Cane. Cane turned back to Jax with a raised brow, still not understanding what the biker was trying to get at. He watched, with growing dread as Jax held up a carving fork, a fork that was covered in bloodstains.

"Who?" Cane asked simply, the two prongs matching the description the coroner had listed as the possible murder weapon in the Knowles' murder.

"Her." Jax said darkly, nodding his head back to where Gemma Teller huddled in one of the booths.

Cane's eyes widened at the revelation, unable to process the idea that Gemma Teller-Morrow was responsible for killing her daughter-in-law.

"What do you want me to do with her?" Cane finally asked, shocked that the MC was taking this information to him and not handling Gemma in house.

"Take her in and charge her." Jax responded. "Let her rot in a fucking cell."

Cane nodded his agreement as he moved past Jax deeper into the shop and reached out his hand for Gemma. Gemma lifelessly got up from the seat, glaring daggers at the man, but unusually silent from her normal smart-ass remarks. Cane had her put her hands behind her back, and cuffed them, before guiding Gemma out of the shop and into the back of his squad car.

Once he had her securely in the back he moved to the front of the car to grab evidence bags and returned to the shop. He accepted the bundle of clothes from Nero, placing them carefully into the bag before coming to stand in front of Jax.

He held out the second bag, finally speaking when Jax didn't move to hand him the fork.

"I'm going to need that for evidence." He said quietly, noting the reluctance Jax showed to be parted from the weapon.

"I know." Jax said quietly, as he reached out and dropped the fork into the bag.

Glancing around the room, Cane leaned in closer to Jax.

"Can I have a minute?" He asked, nodding towards the door.

Jax agreed slowly, the last time someone wanted a minute with him sent his world spinning, but he led the way outside to the front of the shop.

"The evidence indicates two people were in the house with Dr. Knowles and Eli." Cane said, jumping right in. "One killed Tara, the other shot Eli."

He nodded at the car where Gemma sat, her hands behind her back as she stared vacantly ahead.

"You let me know if you find the animal that took down Eli."

Jax leveled a stare at the other man. "You sure you're ready for that?" He asked, doubtful that the cop would be willing to do what needed to be done if they didn't bring the second killer in.

"Eli was shot in the back, whoever pulled the trigger, needs to be put down like the dog they are."

Jax quietly agreed, shaking Cane's hand before watching the other man get into his car and pull away from the shop.

"Jax?" Bobby's voice came from behind him. "What do you want to do now brother?"

"We finish this."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thank you for the reviews! So Gemma is finally facing the music for her actions. Even better, Jax isn't wasting anytime with her, he can't even be bothered with her to take any action against her himself. In addition to that I love the idea that right after all this all Jax wanted was to hear Tara's voice, that even though she's gone, she's the one he turns to, the one who brings him back from the brink.

And the guys are on the hunt for the shooter! Is the end coming for Juice? Keep the reviews coming in, I love hearing from everyone!


	9. Chapter 8

Jax took the rest of the night to cool down before deciding on his next move. He spent the rest of the evening playing with Abel and Thomas, reading them their favorite stories and telling them how mommy was watching them and that she wanted to make sure daddy was getting better with the stories.

Abel had eagerly nodded at the last part, looking up at the ceiling and waving at mommy, telling her that daddy still wasn't as good at her, but he was better.

Once he had both boys down, he turned his attention back to the letters Tara had left for him to read. After everything they discovered today, Gemma being involved in JT's death no longer surprised him, but Jax was morbidly interested in learning the extent of Gemma's deception.

By the time he finished, he sat back in the bed, staring up at the ceiling wondering where the hell things went wrong. How an MC that was about freedom and brotherhood turned into something dark and deadly.

The next morning he sent the boys off with Chucky and called the guys in to the table.

Bobby took his spot at the gavel, having no problem with Jax calling the meeting and wishing things would get back to normal so he could give the gavel back. Tig arrived slowly, in a bit of a daze from everything from the night before. He never thought he'd see the day where Jax was at his mother's throat.

"Cane said the evidence is pointing at two killers." Jax began drawing everyone's attention to where he sat at the opposite end of the table from Bobby. He leaned forward and folded one hand over the other. "The only person left in this town who would keep this kind of secret for Gemma is Unser."

"What do you want to do?" Chibs asked seriously.

"Talk to him." Jax answered with a shrug. "Find out what happened that night."

"Tig see if you can nail down a location." Bobby ordered.

"Got it." Tig quickly agreed and pulled out his phone. "Want him to come to the shop?" He asked Jax.

"No, we'll meet him at the trailer."

Tig nodded and left the room, already dialing Unser's number.

"We've got a meet set up with Tyler to discuss the situation in Stockton." Bobby informed Jax and the others.

"Good, you and Chibs handle that."

"You don't want to be there?"

"Na, Tyler needs to know you have the gavel now. I've got something else I need to handle."

"You want me with you brother?" Happy asked getting to his feet with Jax.

"Na, it's personal."

"Rat." Jax said causing the other man to stop at the door.

"Yea?" The other man asked straightening up and turning back to Jax.

"Catch up with Chucky and my boys, keep an eye on them."

"Juice, you're with Bobby and me." Chibs said getting Juice's attention, the other man's silence during the meeting did not go unnoticed. "We're heading out in five." He said catching Jax's and Bobby's eyes. Juice nodded his agreement and continued out the door shutting it behind him.

"You want Rat on the boys?" Bobby asked gently, surprised by Jax's call, but glad Rat took the assignment gracefully.

"We don't have proof that Unser is the other player in this. I don't want my boys unprotected while we dig deeper."

Chibs and Bobby nodded their agreement.

"We'll keep a close eye on the other one." Chibs promised, gesturing his head towards the door that Juice just slipped through.

Jax thanked the guys and headed out of the room. With a reminder to Tig to let him know when he got a hold of Unser, he made his way out of the shop and down the street.

He stopped outside the nondescript office building, only hesitating a moment before pushing open the door and stepping inside.

"She's waiting for you sir." The young receptionist said, jumping to her feet at the sight of Jax and guiding him inside.

Jax moved quickly into the office, watching as Lowen got warily to her feet.

"What can I do for you Jax?" She asked slowly, gesturing for him to take one of the chairs at her desk.

Jax dropped heavily into the seat, embarrassed that his actions a few weeks ago put the frightened look that he still saw in the lawyer's eyes as she lowered herself back into her seat opposite him.

"Tara had made a will." Jax began, as Lowen nodded.

"Yes, before she changed counsel."

"I know she had named a guardian in case something happened to us."

Lowen nodded again, unsure of where Jax was going with this.

"I want something legal, something that says who I want to get the boys if something happens." Jax said.

Lowen hesitated a moment, trying to gauge Jax's mood before asking her next question.

"What about your mother?" She asked, thinking back to Tara's adamant statements that Gemma would never get custody of her boys.

Lowen watched as Jax's face darkened and his fists clenched, she slowly backed away from the desk, making sure she had a clear path if she needed to move in a hurry.

"My _mother_." He seethed. "Will never get custody of our boys." Jax continued after taking a deep breath to bring his emotions back under control.

* * *

Just after his meeting at Lowen's office, Jax had returned to the shop when Tig informed him that Unser was waiting for him at the trailer. Jax asked Tig and Happy to follow him to Teller-Morrow, to keep an eye on things while he spoke with Unser.

Now Jax stood outside the beat up trailer, Tig at his side a hand over his eyes as the sun reflected off the metallic dome.

"You sure you don't want us in there with you?" He asked, shooting Jax a suspicious look.

"Na. I got this. Check on the garage, see how it's looking."

Happy clapped Jax on the back as he passed, sharing a meaningful glance as he followed Tig to the garage. Jax stepped up to the door of the trailer and knocked sharply.

He was tense as he listened to Unser moving around inside, impatient while he waited for the old man to answer the door.

"Jax." Unser said quietly, opening the door and stepping aside so Jax could come in. He led the way to the back of the trailer where some seating was arranged and dropped heavily onto the cushions.

"Did you hear about my mom?" Jax asked, knowing that Unser still used his old connections to keep in the loop about the going's on in the sheriff's office.

"I found out this morning." Unser replied with a shake of his head, a sick feeling still in his gut when he found out that his suspicions had been proven, that Gemma was responsible for Tara's death.

Jax stalked slowly towards Unser, one step at a time as he tried to read the other man.

"This was the first you heard of what she had done?" He asked slowly, not believing for a second that Unser wasn't on the same page as Gemma.

"She was in a bad way that night, but she didn't say anything about what happened."

"The cops think there were two killers."

"That's what I heard." Unser responded, nodding to himself. He glanced up and noted Jax's calculating glance. "It wasn't me!" He burst out, holding his hands up as he got to his feet. "You really think I would take out a cop?"

"To protect Gemma? I don't know how far you'd be willing to go." Jax reasoned.

"Look Jax. I love your mom, that's obvious, and she was a mess that day. She'd just found out you were going inside, thought Tara had ratted and broke up her family. Her mind was in a bad place."

"That day?" Jax asked, his eyes darkening in warning.

"I stopped by the house after Tara's lawyers called, they needed some of your old arrest files for when you were brought in, I told Gemma what was going on, so she didn't find out too late."

Jax stilled at his words, his eyes narrowing. Unser swallowed thickly as his own words registered.

"Oh my god." He breathed out as understanding dawned on him. His mind put together the pieces that he had refused to see, showed him the truth that he refused to believe, that his words set this tragedy in motion. His thoughts went back to that day, to telling Gemma that Jax was being taken in, that it looked like Tara had ratted. He remembered Gemma trying to get up to leave, asking him to get her pills, and his return to the empty dining room. He remembered going to the ice cream shop, thinking she had gone to see her son, remembered telling Jax to make sure someone let his mother in on the plan. His mind finally stopped on the image of Gemma, coming to him that same night, in different clothes and an absolute wreck.

"You son of a bitch!" Unser heard the scream as the younger man rushed towards him.

Unser tried to brace himself for the impact, shocked when instead of being thrown back against the cushions he felt a sharp pain in his gut. Looking down slowly he watched the knife slowly slide back out, bright red with his blood.

Unser fell to his knees, blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth as he reached out and grasped Jax's cut.

"I'm so sorry." He gasped out. "It was my fault."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hey everyone! Sorry this update is late! It's busy season at work, so it's been really difficult to find some extra time to sit down and write. Add in I still have no idea how I want to end this story, it's been tough to update. I've pretty much narrowed it down to two possible endings, I don't like either option (I pretty much don't like any option that doesn't end with Tara getting herself and the boys out of dodge, so I guess I'm screwed on that one).

That being said, Unser is gone. I just couldn't let him live after what he did. He not only wasn't a support to Tara when she was trying to get out, but he's the one who gave Gemma bad information, and then acted like it was no big deal that she stole his car, while drunk and high right after he told her Jax was going to prison because Tara ratted. Yea, Unser had it coming. And I liked bringing back that reactive side of Jax, the guy who killed Kohn to protect Tara without a second thought, that guy came back to kill the man who had part in Tara's death.

Can't wait til Juice finds out, he must be sweating!


End file.
